What’s up everyone!
If you’re unfamiliar with this series, each week I take a look at some hitting matchups you should take advantage of and some hitting matchups you should avoid, based on who the hitters will likely be facing on the mound. I’ll also be focusing on catchers you can stream each week since we all know that catcher can be an especially tricky position in fantasy.
If you’d like to learn more about when it becomes less risky to stream hitters (and pitchers) and when certain team stats start to stabilize during the year, check out this article.
So let’s take a look at the hitters to start and avoid in Week 16 (7/22-7/28) of the fantasy baseball season.
Notes: All pitching matchups mentioned here are based on projections as of this post’s publication. It is entirely possible that the actual matchups could change for any number of reasons. Keep in mind, this article is geared toward middle-of-the-road players, meaning you should be starting top-of-the-line bats regardless of the matchup. Always start your studs.
Additional note: I want to thank Christian Otterman for covering for me last week while I was out of town!
START
Seattle Mariners hitters – The Mariners are set to have six games this week, starting off with three against the Angels, who own the second-worst team FIP in all of baseball. In that series, they’ll see Tyler Anderson, José Soriano, and Griffin Canning, none of whom concern me all that much.
Then, the Mariners will get a three-game series against the White Sox, a team that owns the fourth-worst team FIP in the league. They will see Garrett Crochet in that series, so maybe bench your Mariners hitters in daily leagues there, but otherwise I think you’re good to go.
Unfortunately, much of the Mariners’ lineup has been struggling mightily lately, though Victor Robles is sporting a .467/.556/.800 line over the past two weeks (though, very small sample size, as that’s just 15 at-bats) if you feel like taking a swing on him in deeper leagues.
San Francisco Giants hitters – This is a bit of a unique recommendation that only comes up a few times a year in this article. This is all about volume, because the Giants will get eight games this week thanks to a double-header on Saturday.
Now, the matchups are a bit hit-and-miss throughout the week. The Giants start their week off with a four-game series against the Dodgers, whose pitching staff has been pretty middle-of-the-road from a FIP perspective (14th-worst in the league). In that series, they’re slated to face River Ryan, Landon Knack, Tyler Glasnow, and (potentially) Clayton Kershaw.
Ryan has looked good in Triple-A, but obviously it remains to be seen how that will translate to the majors. Knack has looked fairly decent too, though he’s not someone I’m automatically benching hitters against. Obviously Glasnow poses a tough matchup, and of course Kershaw could be a tough matchup, but we also have no clue how he’s going to look coming off of shoulder surgery.
After the Dodgers series, the Giants will get four more games against the Rockies, the team with the worst team FIP in all of baseball right now. And that’s what puts this week over the top for me to recommend you start your Giants hitters. It’s an eight-game week, with half of those games against the worst pitching staff in baseball (sadly not in Coors Field, but oh well), and the other half featuring some potentially good matchups. All in all, I think it’s worth the start in weekly leagues and worth picking and choosing in daily ones.
Mike Yastrzemski owns a .417/.462/.833 line over the past two weeks and is definitely worth a look this week, as is Brett Wisely, who has a .310/.333/.448 line over the past two weeks.
CATCHER TO STREAM: Patrick Bailey is still pretty widely available and is sporting a .345/.424/.517 line over the past two weeks. He’s definitely worth a stream this week.
Atlanta hitters – Atlanta has a full seven-game week this week, starting off with a three-game series against the Reds where they’ll see Hunter Greene, Nick Martinez, and Frankie Montas. Greene could be an issue, but honestly I’m not all that concerned about that series either way.
After that, Atlanta will get four games against the Mets, a team that currently owns the eighth-worst team FIP in all of baseball. With seven games and a series of pretty good matchups, I think your Atlanta hitters are definitely worthy of consideration this week.
Outside of your standard Atlanta hitters (i.e. Austin Riley, Matt Olson, Marcell Ozuna), there isn’t a whole lot worthy of picking up, as guys like Eddie Rosario, Orlando Arcia, and other lesser-rostered Atlanta hitters have been struggling lately (though hopefully they can pick it up this week).
Oakland Athletics hitters – The A’s also have a seven-game week this week, starting off with three games against the Astros, a team that currently owns the ninth-worst team FIP in baseball. In that series, they’ll see Spencer Arrighetti, Jake Bloss, and Hunter Brown, none of whom concern me all that much.
Then, they’ll get four games against the Angels who, as I mentioned earlier, own the second-worst team FIP in the league. There, they’ll see Jack Kochanowicz, Carson Fulmer, Tyler Anderson, and José Soriano, none of whom worry me, making this a good week for your A’s hitters.
Lawrence Butler is sporting a .412/.444/.971 line over the past two weeks and is definitely worth a look this week, as is Seth Brown who has a .294/.400/.706 line over the same time period. And in deeper leagues, Max Schuemann is worth a look, as he’s been hitting .400/.486/.567 over the past two weeks.
AVOID
New York Mets hitters – While the Mets have seven games this week, they’re slated for some tough matchups that are going to make it tough to justify starting your Mets hitters.
They start the week off with one game against the Marlins on Monday finishing out a series from over the weekend. In that game, they’ll see Yonny Chirninos, so that doesn’t worry me all that much.
But after that, they get a two-game series against the Yankees where they’ll see Luis Gil and Gerrit Cole. Then, they’ll finish off the week with four games against Atlanta, a team that currently owns the best team FIP in baseball right now. There, they’ll see Charlie Morton, Spencer Schwellenbach, Max Fried, and Chris Sale.
All in all, I’d definitely be avoiding my Mets hitters this week.
Minnesota Twins hitters – The Twins get a six-game week this week, starting off with three games against the Phillies, a team that owns the second-best team FIP in baseball, where they’re slated to face Zack Wheeler, Ranger Suárez, and Aaron Nola.
After that, the Twins will get three games against the Tigers, who own the fifth-best team FIP in the league. In that series, they’ll see Keider Montero, Tarik Skubal, and Kenta Maeda. Montero and Maeda don’t worry me all that much, but Skubal definitely does, meaning there are maybe two games this whole week where I’d be comfortable starting my Twins hitters. That’s not enough value for me in a weekly league.
Cleveland Guardians hitters – The Guardians have basically the reverse schedule of the Twins, but seven games instead of six.
They start the week off with four games against the Tigers, where they’ll see Tarik Skubal, Kenta Maeda, Jack Flaherty, and Reese Olson. Then, they’ll close out the week with three games against the Phillies where they’ll see Cristopher Sánchez, Tyler Phillips, and Zack Wheeler.
I’m recommending you avoid your Guardians hitters for the exact same reason I’m recommending you avoid your Twins hitters because they’ve both basically got the same schedule this week. There are a couple of games that are worth taking advantage of in daily leagues (i.e. the Tyler Phillips matchup), but overall there’s not enough value here to make it worth it to me.
Feature image by Michael Packard (@artbymikep on Twitter) / Photo by Joe Robbins / Icon Sportswire